


Bake me a Dream

by androgynousclintbarton



Category: Naruto
Genre: Bakery AU, M/M, it's just fluffy goodness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:55:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28336542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/androgynousclintbarton/pseuds/androgynousclintbarton
Summary: Gai decides to make Kakashi's dreams come true in return for all of the work Kakashi has put in helping him with his own dreams. Now he needs a nice plant to help break the news.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23
Collections: KakaGai Week 2020 entries





	Bake me a Dream

The sound of birds chirping at the front door of his shop drew Tenzo’s attention away from the book that he was currently reading. The door chime he had chosen was perfect. Not obnoxious enough to annoy him whenever there was a new customer, but still out of place enough that he would look up from whatever he was doing without fail.

At his door stood a man wearing possibly the ugliest green tracksuit combo he had ever seen with long hair braided behind his back and the thickest eyebrows in existence. That last observation wasn’t even an exaggeration on his part. Were eyebrows really allowed to be that big?

“Hello.” Slipping his bookmark into place, Tenzo set his book down on the counter in front of him and focused his full attention on the new customer. “How can i help you today?”

A shy smile greeted him. “I’m looking for a plant.” Taking a step into the shop, the man’s eyes scanned the selection of plants that Tenzo currently had out on display. “Something that will survive a few months.”

That was interesting. Very few people bothered to specify that they actually wanted the plant to survive, let alone ‘a few months’. 

He had a few plants that could survive quite a long time if given the right care, but finding the right one wasn’t as easy as knowing how long someone wanted it to last. Stepping out from behind the counter, he slowly made his way towards the other man. 

“Is there a particular plant you want?” He pressed for more information. “Something that flowers? Or a plant that’s easy to take care of? Big or small?”

“Well…” It was clear that this trip hadn’t been well thought out. Tenzo could see that the questions he asked were now being carefully considered, which was more than he could say for most customers. A lot of people who came through that door just grabbed the prettiest thing they saw, paid, and left without speaking a word to him.

Clearly the man was on a mission.

“I don’t think a flowering plant would be good,” the customer muttered to himself. “He doesn’t like flowers, but he likes sturdy plants. Something that can grow well and doesn’t require a lot of attention. He tends to forget about other things when he’s really focused on tasks.”

That sounded like the type of person who would love Tenzo’s selection of  herbaceous perennials. Though there still were quite a lot of them that flowered, he could think of one that might fit the customer’s preferences.

Waving the man forward he did a 180 degree turn and headed towards the back corner where he kept some of his less fragile plants. The ones that didn’t need constant care every day, or needed to be away from the sunlight that shone through the front windows from 7am to 8pm everyday. 

“I think…” His eyes scanned the shelves, searching for the plant he was thinking of. “Ah, here it is.” Reaching out, he carefully picked up the small Zamioculcas zamiifolia from the shelf and turned back around, almost jumping out of his skin when he found his customer standing directly behind him. Releasing his grip on the potted plant, he watched in horror as it plummeted towards the floor. 

Instead of hearing the sound of the pot shattering against the ground, Tenzo found himself watching as the man swooped down and caught the plant with ease, saving him from losing a sale. 

“Sorry,” the shy smile that Tenzo had been greeted with was back on his face, “I didn’t mean to scare you.” With the apology out of the way, he turned his attention down to the plant now resting in his hands. Tenzo wasn’t quite sure what was going through his mind, but the way that his smile slowly morphed into a tender gaze told him that he had made the right choice.

Now he just had to lock in the sale.

“It’s an easy plant to take care of,” he explained, making his way back over towards the counter so he could put some distance between the two of them. “You, or your partner, only really need to water it when the dirt is dry, and even then if you forget a day or two it will still live.”

For a second he thought his words were being ignored. There was no verbal response to what he had said, and the man was still looking down at the plant with the fondest expression. Almost like he was hypnotized by it. 

“He’ll love it.” The words finally broke through the silence that had fallen between them, bright happy eyes turning upwards to meet his gaze. “And it’ll go great in the bakery.”

Well, now that was just something Tenzo couldn’t ignore. A bakery sounded like a great idea, especially if it ended up somewhere nearby where he could sneak in once in a while to grab a treat.

Seeing the plant being set down in front of him, Tenzo turned his attention to the till and started to punch in the price, but his interest in the aforementioned bakery continued to nag at him.

“It’ll be ¥7000.” He smiled back at his customer. “And what is this bakery, if you don’t mind me asking? Planning to open up a new place?”

There was a moment of hesitation, but then the flood gates seemed to open. Tenzo hadn’t been expecting such a long, detailed answer to his question. A whole story was presented to him and before he knew it he was invested. This sounded like the best boyfriend ever, and if he was into bad clothing choices he might have been tempted to try to steal this one for himself.

Not that he really thought it was possible. The way that he said his partner’s name, the way his eyes lit up everytime he talked about him. This was a man who was head over heels in love. No-one could hope to steal him.

“Do you think it sounds alright?” Tenzo blinked, a little confused by the question. “I didn’t really talk to him about buying the location. I didn’t have time. It was such a cheap price and I knew if I waited to talk to him someone would swoop it up before I could get back to it in time…”

“I think he’ll love it.” His words were met with a warm happy look. “I mean, who wouldn’t want a boyfriend who listens to them gush about their dream of opening a bakery, and then as soon as he sees a small place on sale for cheap enough just swoops it up without thinking. He’s bound to love it.”

At least, that’s how he would feel if someone had bought him the small shop he now owned knowing that he wanted to open up a flower shop. One that specializes in living potted plants that would stay with a person for months or even years as long as they took proper care of them, unlike the Yamanaka shop down the street. He had never understood the obsession with flowers that had been ripped away from their roots and would die within a week regardless of how much care a person gave them. It seemed such a waste of a beautiful plant. 

“Thanks.” Taking the money that was now being presented to him, Tenzo punched it into the till and stashed it away in the drawer. “He has done a lot for me since we were young. Without him I wouldn’t have the dojo, and we’d both be working shitty jobs we didn’t like. I want to pay him back. Give him something he actually enjoys instead of…” He stopped himself there, replacing whatever words he was about to say with a chuckle instead. “Well, I doubt you want me to bore you with the whole story.”

“Not that I have much to do,” Tenzo waved his hand towards the empty store to emphasize his point, “but you should get back and present him with his new gifts. I’m sure he’ll love them both.”

With one final goodbye, Tenzo watched as his customer made his way back out the front door, and as soon as the door chime went off he kicked himself mentally. All of that talking, and he had forgotten to ask where the bakery was going to be, or even what the man’s name was. 

He was never going to get one of those delicious cupcakes that apparently made the world stop with their sugary greatness, and that was just upsetting. 

* * *

Numbers.

Even when he closed his eyes, all Kakashi saw was numbers. Equations, pay cheques, costs, and deductions. Numbers were swimming in his brain and he wanted nothing more to bash his head against the table until they disappeared.

Why did he have to have the worst job in existence? Why had he been given a brain smart enough to do this job with such ease, but the attention span of a five year old on sugar?

He needed to do something, anything, to take his mind off of all of the paperwork and the endless numbers.

A creaking sound snagged his attention.  _ Gai _ . Gai was home. Only the front door of their tiny apartment creaked like that, no matter how much oil he put on the hinges to try and get it to stop.

Gai could help him think of more enjoyable things. He was great at doing that.

Bolting up from his seat, Kakashi rushed towards the front room and threw his arms around Gai’s neck, hugging him tightly as he tried to maneuver himself around the body that had suddenly appeared. Not that this was anything new for Gai. Kakashi had started making a habit out of greeting him like this years ago when they first moved into their apartment, and he had never missed the opportunity to greet Gai with just as much enthusiasm as the day before.

Behind him, Pakkun came trudging along after being forced to wake up from his two hour long nap on Kakashi’s lap. The poor pug dog was rarely ever happy to be awoken so rudely, but he usually forgot about his gripes with Kakashi’s sudden movements when he was presented with treats a few minutes after the daily greetings.

“You needed a break, I see.” As always, Gai could see right through him. Whether it was because he was vibrating with excitement or because Gai could see that he had made an absolute mess of his hair while running his fingers through it stressing over his paperwork, it didn’t really matter. Gai was home now and a few hours of relaxing before bed was exactly what he had been looking forward to all day. “Work sending you too much paperwork again?”

“You know how they are.” Hiding his face in Gai’s neck, he closed his eyes and relaxed while Gai set everything down on the small table they had by the door and wrapped his arms around his waist. “Whenever I finish paperwork they send me more. I’m certain they’re pawning off everyone else’s paperwork on me.”

There were actually more accountants than just him. There had to be, for a company as big as Hiruzen-sama’s was. He and his husband, Danzo-Sama, owned restaurants all over the country. One person couldn’t possibly do the paperwork for every single one of them, but some days it felt like they were determined to have Kakashi try. 

“Well, I think you should quit.” Tilting his head to the side, Kakashi cracked his right eye open and stared up at Gai. “What? It’s true! You deserve a job where you’re not overworked and constantly stressed.”

“Are you going to find me one of those?” He huffed, forever amused by Gai’s insistence that he find a better job. He had tried to do that in the past and it never worked out. Either his new boss didn’t like him because he was smarter than them, or his new co-workers refused to work with him because he was socially awkward. 

Usually the second one. His first day never went well enough for him to stick around and let his boss learn just how smart he was. Honestly, he was lucky he was always allowed to come back after every new attempt. Most bosses would have gotten fed up with him continuously quitting and coming back after three years, but Hiruzen always welcomed him back with a pile of paperwork twice the size as what he had left behind. 

Feeling Gai’s arms retracting from his waist, Kakashi whined. He wasn’t done getting comfort hugs yet, but Gai seemed determined to pull away. No matter how much Kakashi tried to squirm his way back into that warm hug Gai continued to retract his arms until he was able to take a step back. With space now between the pair, Gai moved his hands onto Kakashi’s shoulders and gazed deep into his eyes.

It was a little unsettling if he was being honest with himself. 

“What if I told you—well if maybe I…” Gai fell silent. It seemed pretty obvious that he was trying to break some sort of news to Kakashi, but he was having troubles doing it, which only made Kakashi worry. 

Had Gai found him a new job? Was he going to have to go through the ‘quit, start new job, get fired, and go back to beg for his old job back’ routine all over again? Were they ever going to stop with this stupid game and admit he was stuck where he was?

“Oh, no. Don’t get that look.” Gai’s words cut through his thoughts, pulling him back to the present and to those soft kind eyes that always seemed to look at him with more love than he could imagine anyone having for someone like him. “It’s a good thing. I did a good thing, Kakashi. Well, I think I did.”

Another moment of doubt, and more worries rushed through Kakashi’s mind. There was no way this could end well for him at all. It never did.

“Gai,” nibbling at his bottom lip, Kakashi took a deep breath and forced a smile onto his face, “I’m good where I am. I know it’s not perfect and it’s a lot of work, but it’s a job. I get paid to be there and that job helped us buy the dojo so it’s a good thing isn’t it?”

There’s no way they would have been able to afford to support Gai’s dream without the money he was making under Hiruzen. No other job paid well enough for them to afford their apartment and save up the money they needed to get Gai’s dojo. The money his father had left him in high school had only been enough to buy the place, not refurbish it and get all of the equipment they needed, and Gai’s job as a trainer at the local gym hadn’t been paying him much at all. 

He owed a lot to Hiruzen, so finding another job that wasn’t going to work out in the end wasn’t ideal for him at this point. 

Unfortunately, Gai wasn’t convinced. 

“It’s not just a new job, Kakashi.” He couldn’t help but roll his eyes a bit. Gai’s pep talks always started like this and he always ended up going with whatever new job his boyfriend had found for him. It was getting exhausting. “I mean it. I didn’t talk to someone to get you a chance at a new firm, or to have you doing more paperwork behind a desk.”

Ok, that did sound a bit new. It wouldn’t hurt to at least listen to Gai, would it?

“So,” he raised an eyebrow, still a little unimpressed, “what is it? Did you get me a fast food job? Am I going to be telling teenagers how to make hamburgers and deal with customers yelling at me because they got a pickle on their burger?”

Fast food workers really didn’t get paid enough for the bullshit they had to put up with. 

“I would never dream of getting you a job like that.” Gai frowned. “No, I got… well, I found a small place near the dojo that was up for sale. It was really cheap and we still had enough money left over after all of the renovations.”

“Gai, please tell me you didn’t buy another place…” It was enough to have to do the finances for Gai’s dojo on top of all of the work he did for Hiruzen’s companies. Another place to take care of on top of all of that would probably put him in an early grave. “Isn’t one dojo enough? I can’t handle…”

A finger pressed against his lips, cutting off the rest of his sentence.

“I did not buy another building so I could have another dojo.” There was a hurt look in Gai’s eyes when Kakashi looked back at him. “Do you really think… Kakashi, you’ve given up more than enough for me already.”

Ok, he deserved that one. Gai was the sweetest person he had ever met. There was no way he was going to buy himself another building without consulting Kakashi. Especially when Kakashi had put in so many extra hours just so they could afford everything they needed for the first dojo.

“Then what is it?” He crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for an explanation. 

“Well, it’s just a small place.” Tilting his head, Kakashi waited for clarification. “Just enough for a small display room and a large kitchen in the back for you to work in.”

A kitchen? That sounded an awful lot like something he had been dreaming about for years. A dream he had only ever dared to share with Gai while they were laying in bed drifting off to sleep. 

“Gai…” He was almost afraid to ask. Scared that all of the excitement building up inside of him would come crashing down when Gai told him that his assumptions were wrong. “Did you… are we going to need money to set up a… a bakery?”

The last word left his mouth in a whisper, fear coursing through his veins as he waited for an answer. 

There was no verbal response. Just a shy nod of Gai’s head and suddenly Kakashi was throwing his arms around the other man’s neck and hugging him tighter than he ever had before.

“A bakery…” He buried his face into Gai’s neck, taking in the sweet familiar scent of the cologne that Gai put on every day after his afternoon shower. “We’re getting a bakery.”

“One where you can spend your mornings making all of the goodies you can think of.” Gai’s arms wrapped around his waist once more, pulling him close to his chest. “And it’ll be a hit, Kakashi. The only accounting you’ll have to do once we open up business is for your bakery and my dojo.”

“Our bakery,” Kakashi corrected him. “We both know if I try to do the advertisements, PR or anything involving interacting with people that the place is going to flop within a month.” He really wasn’t the best at talking to people. It’s why he always worked from home when he could, and avoided his co-workers when he had to go into the office. 

“Our bakery.” Gai chuckled, squeezing Kakashi just a bit tighter into his hug. “And I got the first decoration that we can put up when we open it. But you’ll have to take care of it until the bakery is ready.”

Feeling Gai letting go of him once more, Kakashi whined. He hated giving up Gai’s hugs to do other things. It was never as good as being engulfed by those comfortable, warm arms that he loved so much.

“I’ll give you all of the hugs later, I promise.” A hand came up to his shoulder, carefully turning him around so that he could see the potted plant that Gai had set down on the table behind him earlier. It was the most beautiful plant he had ever seen. “I was told this would be the perfect plant for you.”

Apparently someone knew him very well. 

“I love it.” He looked back at Gai with the biggest smile, chuckling when he saw the fond look in the taijutsu master’s eyes “It’ll look great at the front of the bakery where everyone can see it.”

A bakery. His bakery. Part of him still couldn’t believe it. 

Reaching up he laid his hand against Gai’s cheek. “Tell me, what did I ever do to deserve you?”

“That’s a very long list.” Leaning down just a bit, Gai pressed a tender kiss to his neck. “One I’ll make sure to give you while we’re celebrating after dinner.”

An amazing boyfriend, a chance at his dream job, and promises of celebrations? There was no way today could get any better for him.

* * *

Three months of endless, grueling work. That is what Kakashi had to put up with to see this day. Ripping out old shitty flooring, more expenses than he had been expecting when he first saw the place, setting up the kitchen just perfectly for him to work in, and finding all of the staff that they needed for their opening day. There had been more than a few bumps in the road, but they had finally made it.

At five in the morning he had crawled out of bed already dreading the thought of going back to his computer to look at more numbers. The sick feeling he got at the mere thought of having to waste away another day organizing Hiruzen-sama’s company accounts had been more than enough to make him want to vomit. A feeling that he had, unfortunately, gotten far too used to over the years.

Then that moment of realization hit him. The date on the calendar he kept up on the kitchen wall beside the fridge caught his eye, and all of those sickly gross feelings washed away.

His last day had been a week ago. Hiruzen-sama had already called him two days after he had finished at the company asking him when he would be coming back, and had laughed when Kakashi told him that he hadn’t even been able to start his new job yet. It had made Kakashi angry but he had pushed it into the back of his mind and focused on finishing the work he and Gai were doing on the new bakery.

And now here he was. Standing at the front of the bakery after having finished making all of the cupcakes, cookies, cakes, pastries and other goodies for the day. His new designers, Sai and Shikamaru, were in the back putting icing on the cupcakes and cakes. The salesperson, Sakura, was in the midst of organizing everything into the display cases, and he was currently busying himself with finding the right place to put his plant.

The plant that Gai had gotten him when he had come home with news of his new purchase. A Zamioculcas zamiifolia according to every bing search that he did to find out how to take care of the thing. 

Kakashi had been convinced he would kill it within a few days because of his habit of forgetting to take care of things (including himself), but it had somehow managed to survive until today. It was even bigger than when he had first gotten it which was, in his personal opinion, a miracle.

The sound of dogs barking at the front door alerted Kakashi to his new guest. One Maito Gai in the midst of trying desperately to rein back a large black bull dog and the much smaller, but no less feisty, pug dog that were currently attempting to follow him into the bakery.

“I told you to wait outside.” He could tell Gai was trying to scold the dogs, but his voice was much too soft and kind for it to really have any effect on them. “No dogs in the bakery. We’ll be right out, I promise.”

It was sort of cruel to keep them outside in his opinion. The pair were used to always being by his side at all times, and neither of them had taken it well when Gai dropped him off at the bakery at six in the morning and closed the door before either of them could jump out to follow him. Thankfully Gai’s dojo didn’t have the same health code laws against having pets inside, so Gai decided to spoil his morning class with a visit from his boyfriends hounds. 

“You know, if you want them to listen you’re going to have to put a little more strength into your voice,” he offered, laughing when Gai turned to glare at him “Exactly. Take that look and put it into words.”

Gai did not seem to enjoy his humor as much as he did, simply rolling his eyes in response to Kakashi’s words and giving the dogs one final look with a soft ‘two seconds’ before allowing the door to close and turning his full attention to Kakashi.

His eyes seemed to examine Kakashi for a moment. A smile spread across his face as he stepped up to his side and leaned in to press a gentle kiss to his forehead.

“I think this is the happiest I’ve seen you since…” Hearing the pause, Kakashi couldn’t help but chuckle. Had it really been that long since he had been happy? How bad was his accounting work getting to him that Gai had to think of when the last time he was genuinely happy was? “Oh, since we adopted Bull!”

Well, that was pretty bad. They had adopted Bull 7 months ago and now Gai was telling him that he hadn’t been as happy as that moment since? That was sort of depressing.

Though, maybe this was just a turning point for him. If things worked out he was never going to have to return to that shitty desk space in their apartment, spending hours sitting and staring at a computer screen. The only finance work he’d have to do from now on was for his own bakery and Gai’s dojo, and somehow that didn’t feel nearly as daunting a task.

“Here,” holding out the Zamioculcas zamiifolia to Gai, he smiled when his boyfriend returned his gesture with a confused look, “I have no idea where to put it, and you’re great at making things look amazing. You chose the layout here after all, so you choose where this goes.”

Taking the plant from Kakashi, Gai took a few short strides up to the front till and carefully placed the plant off to the side, moving the small business card stand right in front of it. 

“I think it looks best here, right out front.” He beamed, and somehow Kakashi found himself falling in love with that smile all over again. “It pulls the look together perfectly.”

Kakashi was about to respond when the sound of barking dogs caught his attention once more. Turning to look at the door, he smiled when he saw a brunette stumbling past Bull and Pakkun into the building.

“S-Sorry.” The man held up his hands towards the dog, giving them a smile when they continued to bark at him. “I didn’t see you there little guy.”

“Ahh, Pakkun’s hiding and trying to trip people again.” Gai chuckled, glancing over at Kakashi as he spoke. “You really must get him out of that habit.”

“It has been three years since I got him,” Kakashi argued. “At this point there is nothing I can do.”

Giving his head a shake Gai returned his attention to the customer now standing at the front door. “I see you found your way here quickly.”

“Kind of hard not to.” The brunette smiled back at them. “You’ve had this place under construction for months and it’s right beside my favorite coffee place.”

“At least people noticed us getting ready,” Kakashi muttered under his breath, noticing the moment that the other man’s eyes caught sight of the plant that Gai had put beside the till. “I see the plant is already getting attention.”

“Well, it’s kind of hard not to notice it.” Kakashi watched as the man brought a hand up to settle in his hair, his eyes lighting up when he looked over at Gai. “You made sure it didn’t die.”

“Actually, he took pretty good care of it himself.” Even though Gai was trying to say it with pride, Kakashi felt like he had just been insulted. As if it was expected that he would kill the plants if left alone with it for too long. Of course, he wasn’t wrong. Kakashi wasn’t known to remember to water his plants and most of them died within a few days of being left in his care. That still didn’t mean he needed to have his boyfriend act so surprised at his ability to keep one single plant alive. “Kakashi, instead of getting upset why don’t you offer our customer a treat?”

Taking his cue, Kakashi turned away from his boyfriend with a soft huff and picked up the plate of samples that he had made up for anyone who decided to wander into the store.

“Here.” He held it out towards the men, glaring at Gai when he gave him an unimpressed look. “What?”

“I can see why you said he stays in the back,” Sakura giggled from behind the counter where she was still putting treats out on display. “That was pretty bad.”

“I hate you both,” Kakashi grumbled under his breath, watching as the brunette ignored their little argument and picked up a small chocolate cupcake with just a little bit of frosting on top, and plopped it into his mouth.

His eyes immediately lit up, a smile pulling at his lips as he looked over at Gai.

“You must have hired the best baker in town.” He smiled brightly. “That’s amazing!”

“Well,” Kakashi met Gai’s gaze, smiling when he saw the proud look on his boyfriend’s face, “he might not be the best with people, but he is amazing in the kitchen.”


End file.
